Nocchi wanted to honor Pius VI using
allegorical stories of the Roman emperors:

In the first part “Edicts
promulgated by the emperors which have an affinity with the policy of Pius VI”

In the central part “Coat of arms of
Pius VI supported by Architecture who's submitting it to Painting and Sculpture
to be colored and sculpted”

In the third part “Stories of the
Roman emperors exalting their goodness, mercy and love for peace”

FACING THE WINDOWS

“TAPESTRIES OF THE NEW SCHOOL” 1524/31, arrived
in Rome in 1531, woven with silk, wool and gold in Brussels by the manufacture
of Pieter Van Aelst (d. 1532) for Clement VII
Medici (1523/34) after Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael)'s
death (1483/1520) from cartoons of his disciples inspired by his drawings

They are known as Della Scuola Nuova (New
School's) as opposite to the Scuola Vecchia (Old School's) now in the Pinacoteca Vaticana made during Raphael's
lifetime for Leo X Medici (1513/21)

Both sets of tapestries were used for the
walls of the Sistine Chapel

Of the original twelve tapestries of this set,
eleven remain of which nine are on display here since 1838

These first three tapestries were designed
in the years 1664/66 by the great painter and architect from Rieti Antonio Gherardi (1638/1702) when he was 26 years old
and was under the influence of Pietro da Cortona

Interestingly, the about 150 years that
separate the two cycles of tapestries constitute an abyss between two
completely different styles, the late Renaissance about to become Mannerism of
the tapestries of the New School and the more ceremonial and somewhat cold
Baroque appearance of the Barberini tapestries